Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 Tag

By David Morgan, Associate Editor FORT WORTH, Texas – It’s been quite the week for RFK Racing. A week after Chris Buescher broke a six-year long winless streak by scoring the win at Bristol a week ago, team co-owner Brad Keselowski kept the party going as the NASCAR Cup Series rolled into Texas Motor Speedway, putting his No. 6 Ford on the pole for Sunday’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500. Keselowski streaked around the 1.5-mile track with a lap of 28.573 seconds (188.990 mph) to take the top spot and then hadRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor FORT WORTH, Texas – The Lone Star State comes calling this weekend when the NASCAR Cup Series rolls into Texas Motor Speedway to kick off the second round of the Playoffs with Sunday’s running of the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 500. Texas first joined the circuit in 1997, but back in 2017 went through a reconfiguration, dropping the banking in Turns 1 and 2 from 24 degrees to 20 degrees, as well as widening the racing surface from 60 feet to 80 feet. Meanwhile, Turns 3 andRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor This time of the year, there is a clear division between the drivers still alive in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs and those on the outside looking in. Add in the current high downforce/low horsepower package that is run on intermediate tracks and the situation is exacerbated, leading to what we saw in Sunday’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. On a number of occasions throughout the opening race in the Round of 8 in the Playoffs, the drivers fighting for a chance toRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Brad Keselowski entered the Round of 8 on the outside looking in. He’ll still leave Texas Motor Speedway outside the top-four standings despite finishing fourth in Sunday’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500. In fact, he cut the gap from 16 to 15 going into next Sunday’s race at Kansas Speedway. It might’ve been just a point, but Keselowski’s No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang showed good pace. This was the case during long runs when Keselowski had one of the better showings outside the Hendrick Motorsports duoRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor FORT WORTH, Texas – What seemed to be a run of the mill NASCAR Cup Series race Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway flipped a switch in the closing laps, wreaking havoc among some of the Playoff drivers. The trouble started on Lap 300, when smoke began billowing from underneath Joey Logano’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford, signaling an expired engine and the end of his day. Already at a points deficit entering the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500, Logano didn’t quite have the race he needed, finishingRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service The Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 at Texas Motor Speedway had dramatic ups-and-downs all Sunday afternoon with the victorious exception of Kyle Larson, who absolutely dominated the race – leading 256 of 334 laps and holding off the field on seven different re-starts in the final 125 laps alone. Larson’s win by .459-seconds over Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron was his series best – and career best – eighth of the season and 14th of his career. Most importantly, it punched his ticket into the ChampionshipRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor The Lone Star State comes calling this weekend when the NASCAR Cup Series rolls into Texas Motor Speedway to kick off the penultimate round of the Playoffs with Sunday’s running of the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 Texas first joined the circuit in 1997, but back in 2017 went through a reconfiguration, dropping the banking in Turns 1 and 2 from 24 degrees to 20 degrees, as well as widening the racing surface from 60 feet to 80 feet. Meanwhile, Turns 3 and 4 remain banked atRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer KFB (Kyle Busch) is back on top of the NASCAR Cup Series leaderboard with his first win of the season in the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 at Texas Motor Speedway which finally concluded Wednesday evening. Fuel economy and a hungry Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex, Jr. didn’t stop “Rowdy” from extending his win streak to 16 straight seasons, equaling Jimmie Johnson (2002-2017), Rusty Wallace (1986-2001) and Ricky Rudd (1983-1998) for the third longest streak in NASCAR history. “We finally got it. I was soRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service After winning the three-time-weather-delayed Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on Wednesday, Kyle Busch climbed from his car and pointed to the image of a zombie on his helmet. “This is what we’ve all looked like around here for the last three days,” Busch quipped. “Everybody just zombied into their phones.” In reality, 72 hours, 28 minutes and 34 seconds elapsed between the time NASCAR red-flagged the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff race on Sunday and lifted the red at 5:03 p.m. ETRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Misting rain interrupted Sunday’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 at Texas Motor Speedway and ultimately forced postponement of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff race until 10 a.m. ET Monday (NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). NASCAR called a caution on Lap 42 because of wet track conditions. In the second race of the Round of 8, the Cup cars ran 10 laps under caution before the sanctioning body brought the field to pit road and red-flagged the event. Roughly half the field opted to pit underRead More